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Pirate websites that illegally host films and television programmes are rife with malicious software and credit card scams, according to researchers who found them on 97 per cent of the most popular pages.

A study of the 30 most frequently used pirate sites found that only one was free from credit card scams or “malware”, software that surreptitiously downloads to computers to gather private information or disrupt systems.

The research, carried out for the Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness, found that the “play” buttons on pirate TV and film sites were often decoys, containing hidden links that trigger malware